“Any time you get naked in front of a crew, it’s embarrassing,” said Redmayne, 33. “It’s not as if we as actors have some way of becoming comfortable with it. It would be exactly like you getting naked in front of 30 people.”

Redmayne notes that the seriousness of the film won’t easily lend itself to typical light-hearted interview questions.

“I have a fear of talk shows on this one,” he added. “They always say, ‘Tell me a funny story,’ but the film was so intense. We won’t be putting out a gag reel.”

Although Redmayne isn’t quite sure how the film will be received, his only measure of reaction to his transformation is based on dress rehearsals. “Just walking onto a set filled with men, watching the difference in how you’re treated, or the scrutiny… the gaze was overwhelming,” he said. “A lot of women I worked with said, ‘Yeah… welcome to our world.”